How to Calculate Duties and Taxes on Imports to South Africa

South Africa charges customs duty on the FOB customs value and 15% VAT on a deliberately inflated base: customs value plus a 10% uplift plus any non-rebated duty. Act 5 of 2026 deletes the VAT relief on duty-free goods of R500 or less, from a date the Minister sets by Gazette notice. SARS already describes the relief as deleted, but we found no notice, so ask your carrier how it clears these parcels. We couldn't confirm whether the older 20% flat rate on goods under R500 still operates.

• Valuation basis: FOB
• Tax base: (Customs value + 10% uplift for goods from outside the Customs Union + any non-rebated duties) x 15%.
• VAT standard rate: 15%
• Reduced rates: None listed

Foreign electronic service suppliers have VAT registration rules, but no seller scheme for low-value goods was confirmed.

• Duty threshold: null. Whether the 20% flat rate still operates after the 2024 changes was not confirmed.
• Section 48(2) of Act 5 of 2026 defers the VAT deletion to a date set by the Minister. No Gazette notice was found, while SARS's VAT Connect treats the deletion as done. A person should ask SARS or check the Gazette. SC-CF-55 of 14 August 2026 still provides a DA 306 for duty-free goods of R500 or less.
• SC-CR-A-05 was read as a search excerpt, 2022 revision.

SARS adds 10% to the customs value when working out VAT on goods from outside the Southern African Customs Union, known as the Added Tax Value (ATV). Goods originating in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and eSwatini skip the uplift, though not VAT.

SARS handles both customs and VAT. A commercial entry is a goods declaration (SAD 500), sent by EDI as a CUSDEC message with the prescribed invoice data and a customs worksheet showing value, exchange rate and dutiable charges per line. Value is transaction value without international freight and insurance, under SARS's Method 1.

Duties can include additional ad valorem duties on luxury goods, and anti-dumping or countervailing duties set per investigation, either as a percentage or as cents per unit.

Customs value × duty rate = duty. (Customs value + 10% of customs value + non-rebated duties) × 15% = VAT. The 10% is left out for goods originating in the four neighbouring countries.

1. Take the customs value in rand, without international freight and insurance.
2. Find the duty rate in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Customs and Excise Act, and check for anti-dumping and additional duties. Get a code with the HS code classifier.
3. Add 10% of customs value, unless the goods originate in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or eSwatini.
4. Add non-rebated duties to get the ATV, then multiply by 15% for VAT.
5. Add duty and VAT. For low-value parcels, ask the carrier how it's clearing them, for the reasons below. Our duty calculator can check the sum.

Stock from Turkey, duty at an assumed 20%.

Duty-free goods of Namibian origin.

A R400 duty-free parcel from the UK, once the deletion operates.

Until the Minister's date, the relief would leave VAT at nil, and both answers assume the flat rate doesn't apply, which SARS doesn't confirm.

• Forgetting the uplift: 15% of customs value plus duty understates VAT.
• Quoting R500 as a safe free limit: the Act deletes the VAT relief once the Minister sets a date, and SARS already describes it as gone.
• Assuming a uniform 20% on small parcels: it was a concession SARS planned to change, and we can't say it's still current.
• Leaving the uplift on neighbouring-country goods: it applies only to goods from outside the Customs Union.

The flat rate. SARS described goods valued under R500 as clearing at a flat 20% in place of customs duties, with no VAT. Its media release planned two changes: VAT on top of the 20% by 1 September 2024, and a move into WCO low-value categories with appropriate duty rates by 1 November 2024. We found no SARS page confirming either was carried out, or what rates now apply. The flat rate on SARS's current traveller pages is a separate concession for travellers.

The VAT relief. Section 48 of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act 5 of 2026, promulgated on 1 April 2026 in Government Gazette 54448, deletes paragraphs 1(v) and 2 of Schedule 1 to the VAT Act. Those are the reliefs for goods with a customs value of R500 or less on which no duty is payable, and for printed matter by post up to R100. Section 48(2) says this comes into operation on a date the Minister sets by notice in the Gazette, and we found no notice. VAT Connect Issue 21 of September 2026 nevertheless says the exemption has been deleted and that these goods are now subject to VAT, so the Act and SARS's newsletter don't sit together. VAT Connect files the item under imports from Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho and Namibia, but Treasury's 2025 memorandum describes the relief with no origin limit.

The declaration. SARS's goods declaration policy, effective 14 August 2026, still lets goods valued at R500 or less on which no duty is payable be released on a DA 306 instead of a full declaration, with the Controller or Branch Manager's permission.

We also didn't confirm a seller scheme for low-value goods. None of this is formal tax or customs advice, so ask a clearing agent before you price low-value parcels.